Rookie Overcomes Tension for Title

L.A. Times Archives

Oct. 11, 1999 12 AM PT

From Associated Press

Notah Begay made up two strokes over the last two holes of regulation Sunday to force a playoff with Tom Byrum, then won the Michelob Championship on the second extra hole at Williamsburg, Va.

Begay won it with a four-foot par putt on the par-four 16th.

“Inexplicable, the emotions,” said Begay, who won $450,000. “I told my caddie on the second hole in the playoff I felt like I was suffocating with the rain and the cloud cover and the situation. There were a lot of things going through my head.”

Begay, the only American Indian on the PGA Tour, won for the second time in his rookie season when Byrum drove left on the 427-yard 16th at Kingsmill, had to chip it back into the fairway and left his 15-foot par putt short.

Begay left his approach just short, but chipped out of the deep, tangled rough to about four feet and made the putt.

Begay, two shots down heading to the par-three 17th, made a 40-foot birdie putt on 17 and a 20-footer on 18 to shoot a 68, the same as Byrum, to finish at 10-under 274 and force the playoff.

Bruce Fleisher shot a five-under 67 to win the $1.1-million Transamerica seniors event at Napa by one stroke over Allen Doyle, his sixth victory in his first year on the Senior PGA Tour.

Fleisher’s 17-under 199 was a tournament record.

Mi Hyun Kim shot a two-under 70 to win the four-hour rain-delayed $725,000 LPGA First Union Betsy King Classic by one stroke at Kutztown, Pa.

She finished with a 72-hole total of eight-under 280 and earned $108,750. Hall of Famer Beth Daniel, who began the day with a one-stroke lead at seven under, shot a 72 and finished tied for second with Jenny Lidback, who closed with a 69, and Helen Dobson, who had a 71.

Spain defeated Australia, 2-1, to win the 16-nation Dunhill Cup at St. Andrews, Scotland. Jose Maria Olazabal and Miguel Angel Jimemez provided the victories for Spain, which won its first cup. Its lone loser was 19-year-old Sergio Garcia. . . . England’s Laura Davies shot a final-round, even-par 72 en route to a three-under 285 total and a four-stroke victory in the $741,000 Takara World Invitational at Yokoshiba, Japan.

Final Scores

MICHELOB CHAMPIONSHIP

274 (-10)--$450,000

x-Notah Begay III: 67-70-69-68

274 (-10)--$270,000

Tom Byrum: 69-67-70-68

275 (-9)--$170,000

Mike Weir: 74-63-68-70

276 (-8)--$120,000

Barry Cheesman: 73-68-68-67

x-won playoff on second extra hole.

Next: Las Vegas Invitational at Summerlin-Desert Inn Golf Club.